Remember Chelsea Clinton, the shy kid in the White House? Well she's now a glamorous girl about town starting her second year at Oxford. Hadley Freeman examines a remarkable transformation
Chelsea Clinton has certainly been busy during her first summer holiday from Oxford. While her fellow students have been avoiding reading lists or putting off starting essays, Chelsea has been diligently working her way through Britain's social scene.
There was Wimbledon, of course, as well as Elton John's lavish summer ball ($1,500 a ticket). She was photographed looking a little worse for wear in central London's trendy Soho area; in the July issue of W magazine, the US chronicler of all things fashionable and fabulous, sandwiched inside a glossy fashion shoot is a portrait of Chelsea with her parents and boyfriend (and, inexplicably, a champion speed skater) "vacationing at Oscar de la Renta's home".
What a difference a decade makes. In 1992, when Bill Clinton and Al Gore won their first term in office, they brought the families on stage to celebrate. The three Gore children, as preppily pretty as their Ken doll-like father, cheered photogenically. How much more lopsided the single-child Clinton family looked, especially when that child was all hair, teeth and puppy-fat. She managed a meek wave to the crowd, followed by an awkward blush. Television sketch shows were quick to satirise the 12-year-old's pre-pubescent gawkiness.
But 10 years on, a recent Vanity Fair profile solemnly proclaimed her to be "the new John F. Kennedy Jr".
It is, however, a stunningly inappropriate comparison. John F. Kennedy Jr was known for two things: a pretty face and an alleged lack of intelligence, the precise opposite of what has long been assumed of Chelsea.
Even now, despite her recent forays on to London's party circuit, she remains elusive. "We'd love to invite her to our parties this summer," wailed one prominent party PR. "But we just don't know how to get hold of her!" Actually, last year most of the invitations for Chelsea were sent to her pigeon-hole at her Oxford college, but that has become unfeasible and she recently hired a PA.
Chelsea learned to separate the public arena of her parents' life from the private one early on. When the Lewinsky scandal burned at its fiercest, she proudly accompanied her father on business trips while her humiliated mother stayed away.
Although her decision to study at Oxford could be seen as an attempt to distance herself from the shadow of her parents, it can also be seen as a return to the familial fold, while keeping at bay what Pelley calls "the white-hot glare of the American media".
Chelsea not only chose to attend the same university as her father, she opted for the same college. Similarly, when she unveiled her straightened bob at the Paris couture shows last January, it wasn't too difficult to see on whom she was modelling herself: one newspaper dubbed her "Hilary's Mini-Me" (her Oxford boyfriend, Ian Klaus, with his Rhodes scholarship and political interests could be Bill's Mini-Me).
It is possible to discover the occasional verbal lancing of Chelsea among some Oxford students ("People are always bumping into her bodyguards - they're a real pain," bemoaned one; "She often sits in the window at restaurants, which is a bit odd for someone trying to keep a low profile," mutters another), but a remarkably normal picture emerges: she goes shopping on the High Street, she drinks coffee in the local sandwich shop "where she always waits in the queue", says one student appreciatively. When the university football team beat rivals Loughborough University, she and her boyfriend celebrated with them and bought them four bottles of champagne. Her fellow students have reciprocated by maintaining a loyal discretion.
So what, then, to make of this Chelsea mark III? We've had Ugly Duckling Chelsea, Supportive Daughter Chelsea, and, since her arrival in Britain, Social Chelsea: here's Chelsea drinking with Bono, here she is sitting next to Destiny's Child.
Once described as the "White House dog", Chelsea is now, according to Geordie Greig, editor of the glossy social chronicle, Tatler, "one of the most over-invited people today". This summer she has been circulating with the kind of B-list celebrity set associated more with Heat magazine than US "political royalty". She even made her way on to the annual Tatler Top 10 Girls list, keeping company with model Sophie Dahl and Zara Phillips, Princess Anne's daughter.
Yet despite fulfilling all an It girl's social duties with checklist-like efficiency (drunk at the Groucho? Tick; falling out of a limo? Tick), she remains a private figure. "She is a trophy guest, but although she's been photographed at several high-profile events, she doesn't really go to all that many," says Greig.
Nevertheless, perhaps Chelsea has found a new world in which she can thrive, away from the ubiquitous presence of her father. Greig, while describing her as "not exactly a social firecracker", praises the way she is "a strong conversationalist, just like her father". However, he doesn't think she is deliberately making "a social trajectory" - "she's not really climbing any social ladder, she's just having fun." "In the best way," adds a former fellow student at Stanford, "Chelsea takes advantage of what her parents can offer her, but without taking it for granted."
A few days after the September 11th attacks, Pelley was doing a broadcast outside the Missing Persons' Bureau in New York. Clinton's car pulled up and Pelley did a quick interview. As he was about to walk away afterwards, Chelsea reached out from the car and grabbed Pelley's wrist: "So I said, 'I'm sorry, Miss Clinton, would you like to say a few words?' and she talked about how she had been only a few blocks away from the World Trade Centre when it happened, and what it meant to young Americans."
Clinton supporters have often mentioned his desire to leave "a legacy". "I think Bill always dreamed of being lionised, like Kennedy is, like the whole of the Kennedy family has always been," says one former US political reporter. If this is the case then the boy from Hope has failed in this particular ambition. Fallible, chummy, priapic Clinton can never be idolised.
But perhaps through Chelsea he has a second chance to leave his mark. - (Guardian Service)